Carrier performance at one airport
AA→SFO
American Airlines at San Francisco International
- Departures
- 11,739
- Period
- June 2025 to May 2026
- Routes
- 8
- Rank here
- #4 of 9
American Airlines at San Francisco lands a B, about a point better than the national rate of 77.4%. About one flight in five arrive 15 minutes late or worse, and those flights are late by close to two hours on average. That is a workable record, not a spotless one. That rests on 11,739 flights, of which United Airlines flew 59,976 at 81.7% on time.
Measured against the airport rather than the country, American Airlines runs half a point ahead of the 78.3% weighted average across all carriers at SFO. That is the comparison worth making: every operator here works the same runways, the same airspace and the same weather.
Key figures
On time
78.5%
11,465 completed departures
Avg delay
101 min
Across delayed flights only
Cancelled
1.88%
At SFO, this carrier only
Rank here
#4
Of 9 carriers clearing the floor at SFO
These figures cover 12,000 flights between June 2025 and May 2026. Beyond the headline rate, 8.3% of arrivals land a full hour or more behind schedule. That is the number that wrecks a connection, and it is not visible in an on-time percentage alone.
Against the competition
Every carrier at SFO, ranked
The choice of carrier is not cosmetic here. United Airlines arrives on time 81.7% of the time; Southwest Airlines manages 61.9%. Sample sizes sit next to every figure, because a two-point gap across 9,132 flights means less than a ten-point one.
| Airline | Flights | On time | Avg delay | Cancelled | Grade |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| United Airlines | 59,976 | 81.7% | 59 min | 0.56% | B+ |
| Delta Air Lines | 13,738 | 80.0% | 70 min | 1.21% | B |
| JetBlue Airways | 4,340 | 80.0% | 75 min | 1.57% | B |
| American Airlines (this page) | 11,739 | 78.5% | 101 min | 1.88% | B |
| SkyWest Airlines | 32,426 | 77.8% | 74 min | 1.19% | B |
| Alaska Airlines | 10,622 | 76.1% | 55 min | 1.13% | B |
| Hawaiian Airlines | 593 | 75.6% | 65 min | 1.85% | B |
| Frontier Airlines | 3,323 | 65.5% | 83 min | 1.93% | C |
| Southwest Airlines | 9,132 | 61.9% | 58 min | 0.79% | D+ |
The spread between United and Southwest is 20 points, wide enough that it should decide the booking. On a hundred trips that is 20 more arrivals inside the on-time window.
Route by route
Where American Airlines flies from SFO
American Airlines operates 8 routes out of SFO with enough volume to report. Route records inside one carrier at one airport still spread widely, because a short shuttle and a transcontinental have very different exposure to a late inbound.
| Route | Flights | On time | Avg delay | Cancelled | Grade |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| SFO to DFW · Dallas-Fort Worth | 3,069 | 74.4% | 94 min | 2.61% | C |
| SFO to ORD · Chicago | 1,755 | 73.4% | 101 min | 1.88% | C |
| SFO to CLT · Charlotte | 1,495 | 85.5% | 115 min | 1.40% | A |
| SFO to JFK · New York | 1,421 | 80.8% | 117 min | 2.96% | B |
| SFO to PHX · Phoenix | 1,321 | 78.1% | 112 min | 0.83% | B+ |
| SFO to PHL · Philadelphia | 1,228 | 84.6% | 98 min | 1.87% | B |
| SFO to MIA · Miami | 1,073 | 79.1% | 80 min | 0.93% | B+ |
| SFO to LAX · Los Angeles | 376 | 77.3% | 105 min | 0.27% | B+ |
Departure window
Best time of day for this operation
Departure time matters more here than the choice of carrier. The gap between the best and worst window is 26 points, against 20 points between the best and worst carrier. Each bar is the on-time rate for flights scheduled inside that window.
- 5am–8am2,698 flights90.8%
- 8am–11am2,280 flights81.4%
- 11am–2pm2,405 flights68.8%
- 2pm–5pm1,413 flights65.0%
- 5pm–8pm464 flights70.2%
- 8pm–5am2,479 flights80.9%
Scale runs 55% to 95%. Rows with fewer than 30 flights show a dash.
Book the early departure. Flights leaving between 5am–8am arrive on time 90.8% of the time, against 65.0% for the afternoon window. That is 26 points of difference for no extra money, and it comes from the same aircraft having had no earlier flight to fall behind on.
Across the year
Seasonal pattern
Delays peak in May, when the on-time rate falls to 72.3%. February is the strongest month at 84.6%. Moving a flexible trip across that boundary buys 12 points.
Delay causes
What holds this operation up
- 43%Carrier
- 42%Late-arriving aircraft
- 13%National Airspace System
- 2%Extreme weather
- 0%Security
42% of delay minutes trace back to a late-arriving aircraft, meaning the plane was already behind before it got here. That is a cascade, and cascades start small and grow through the day. Across 249,000 reported delay minutes here, that single category outweighs weather by 22 to one. It is the strongest argument for booking the first departure of the morning, when the aircraft has been sitting at the gate overnight with nothing to inherit.
Cancellations sit at 1.88% against a national 1.80%, which is ordinary. Diversions add another 0.45%.
8.3% of arrivals land an hour or more late, close to the national 8.2%. That is the figure that decides a connection, and it says a 60 to 75 minute layover is reasonable here while anything under 45 minutes is a bet. Most delays on this route are the close to two hours kind, which a normal layover absorbs.
The sample behind these figures is 11,739 flights, enough that the headline rate is stable to within roughly a point. The hour-block and month splits divide that further, so read the thinner bars with more caution than the headline.
Put together: the calendar is the biggest lever here, not the carrier or the hour. February runs 84.6% on time and May 72.3%, a swing of 12 points. If the dates move at all, move them out of May before you think about anything else.
Common questions
American Airlines at SFO
How often is American Airlines at SFO delayed?
About one flight in five arrive at least 15 minutes late, which is the Department of Transportation's definition of a delayed arrival. That works out to 21.5% of the 11,739 flights in this analysis, against 22.6% nationally. Delayed flights are late by close to two hours on average.
Which airline is most reliable on American Airlines at SFO?
United Airlines leads at 81.7% on time across 59,976 flights. Southwest Airlines is at the other end on 61.9%, a gap of 20 points. Sample size matters as much as the percentage: a rate built from a few hundred flights moves around far more than one built from ten thousand.
What time of day has the fewest delays on American Airlines at SFO?
The 5am–8am departure window is the strongest at 90.8% on time. The 2pm–5pm window is the weakest at 65.0%, 26 points behind. Later departures inherit delays from earlier flights the same aircraft has already flown, which is why the curve slopes the way it does.
How bad are May delays on American Airlines at SFO?
May is the weakest month at 72.3% on time, compared with 84.6% in February. Across the year that is 12 points between the best and worst months. Moving flexible dates out of that month is one of the few things that reliably helps.
Related
Where to go next
Source: US DOT Bureau of Transportation Statistics, on-time performance data, June 2025 to May 2026. Updated monthly. How this data is collected.